So I was supposed to meet her on Empire walk. It's one of the nicest section of campus, lined with stone laterns with soft glowing lights fueled from gases that come up from the volcano. Normal street lights are spaced out near the walk, otherwise the walk would seem spooky and not the soft, safe feeling place it is. I leaned on a bench. My eyes closed for a split second.
I could feel him before I saw him. The air kind of shifted around me; it got bit colder. I opened my eyes. He was less then five meters away. It was the strange guy who helped Lryssa and me in the alley.
I was about to thank him personally for the hand when he said "You know the hunt has been called off. You can leave the city now.�
So much for him being just a good samaritan. I can only stare at him as he continues.
"I must admit you are a clever hunter, waiting to completely upstage my performance, and those Motorheads were not cheap."
"Oh." That was the best thing I could come up with. Once again I wished for a split second that I was as cool as Jhaelyn and once again I fell flat. Thank the Spirits he was so wrapped up in his monologue that he didn't notice.
"So I waited as you stayed by her side. You make it hard for a guy to get close to a girl. Keeping her safe. I'll bet she'll never know how you hung out on the roof of her last couple of classes."
"I'm not like you." I said. I could feel my stomach tighten. This guy was spooky and seemed to closing the distance without moving. I looked in back of my head. The spell I needed came to my lips. I can cast some of them without saying or doing too much. It's just about focusing. The knot in my stomach receded to more reasonable level. At least I knew it was just my fear and not any tricks from him.
" I know. It came to me after I got the call from Mr X, calling this off, and you were still here. I was quite shocked. Then it hit me. You were just some idiot who jumped blindly into a fight and started risking your life to help someone who you didn't know until 70 hours ago."
"I was all out of orphanages to save."
"The realization that you were just an stupid college student made my defeat at your hands all the more bitter." Defeat? I mean the name calling is bad enough but defeat at my hands? Where was he getting his lines, an old Holovid?
"It's now time to come full circle and complete this."
Maybe I can talk my way out of this. "We don't have to fight."
"You are right. We do not."
Wow! It was the first reasonable thing he'd said all night. I wanted to relax but I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"I will, of course, flay her skin from her bones. And with the way she heals that could take some time."
I hate it when I'm right about things like that. I shifted my weight and got up. I could feel him smile.
This was what he wanted. I looked at my watch. Three minutes before Lyrssa gets out of class, which gives her another two minutes to walk here and meet me. Five minutes. Seven max. I hoped I could drop this guy in that time span. I couldn't let him touch her. I had already made a promise.
"Since you are not going to be reasonable�" I attacked him without finishing the statement. I was hoping to connect with a Blitz Attack. The lighting leapt from my hands before I remembered an important fact. He was a Lycanothope.